Thursday, May 24, 2018

Employee or Contractor?

Rule change threatens NY-NJ
Port drayage capacity, say truckers.

Are the
10,000 or so truckers who serve the Port of New York and New Jersey employees
or independent owner-operators? The wrong answer, says a trucking group, could
seriously impact port operations.

The
Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers set out their objections to a proposed
rule change in how the drivers’ status is determined in a letter May 15 to the
New Jersey Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development, reported the Journal of
Commerce. Turning over determination of the drivers’ employment status to
the IRS, said the association, would further exacerbate an already critical
driver shortage, “pushing drivers away from serving at the port due to its
burdensome, unduly restrictive regulations.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, though, backed the proposal. The
focus on the independent contractor vs. employee issue is a new front in the
longstanding dispute between unions, who want to increase the ranks of employee
drivers, and companies who do not want the liability and costs of employees.

Debate over the regulation follows an executive order signed by New Jersey Gov.
Phil Murphy, creating a Task Force on Employee Misclassification. It follows
legislative efforts in 2016 and 2013 to make it easier for owner-operators to
be considered employees. Neither of those bills was signed into law, although
the 2013 bill got to the desk of then-Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed it.

Murphy’s
executive order said misclassification of employees “deprives New Jersey
workers of important legal rights and protections as well as certain
employment-related benefits, including unemployment insurance, workers’
compensation, and disability benefits.” With most NY-NJ port activity taking
place in New Jersey, state regulations have an outsized effect on the port’s
drayage fleet, with 80 percent of the drivers, according to the carriers’
association, classified as independent owner-operators.

The NJ Dept. of Labor declined to comment, as the
issue is under review. It is accepting comments on the proposed plan and in the
coming weeks will submit its final determination to the governor for review.

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